Therefore, ready-made software would serve the purpose of any enterprise if it is compatible with computer hard­ware in that category as the number of users of a given category of computer hardware is generally very large, the cost of developing system software can be distributed over a large number of users.

As a result, buying the system software becomes the only economi­cally rational option with the user. In fact, most of the system soft­ware is developed in collaboration with hardware manufacturers and is procured by users, off the shelf in the form of ready-made software package. It is only the application software and query soft­ware that offer options with regard to their procurement.

The decision regarding procurement of application software may be influenced by a host of factors, the prime factors being the na­ture of the application, the evolution and the present size of the IT infrastructure. For example, if the computing facility in an en­terprise has grown from a few Personal Computers (PCs), there is a high possibility that the application software library of the en­terprise is rich with ready-made software packages.

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The perform­ance of ready-made application software packages is satisfactory if the application being run is standard and the procedure for processing of information is similar to that in other enterprises in the same industry. The ready-made software packages are economical due to the distribution of their development costs over a large number of users. Thus, the software costs are not substan­tial in such cases.

In case an enterprise began its growth with a mainframe or a mini computer, there are greater chances that its software library would be rich with tailor-made software packages.

Another important feature of application software as an IT re­source is that the cost of software increases substantially as the system becomes more mature and effective. The Figure 7.2 depicts the behaviour pattern of software resource requirements with the passage of time.

As the IT infrastructure becomes more useful, it gets the accept­ability in the enterprise and new applications are proposed and developed leading to increased application software costs. In fact, under these circumstances, the application software costs become substantial and warrant planning in budget. Then, it becomes im­perative to plan the acquisition, use and control of application soft­ware resources.